Sarah Jađehe
Sarah Louisa Jađehe (born 22 November 1983 in Ahovohn, New Cambria) is a New Cambrian singer and songwriter. She is of Keva descent on her father's side, and is one of the country's most high-profile Keva people. She is well-known and praised in her home country for her fusion of Hejvat-language lyrics with R&B, classic soul and jazz genres of popular music. Early life Jađehe was born on 22 November 1983 in Ahovohn, North-West County, New Cambria, where she spent her entire childhood. She is the oldest of eight children born to Stanley and Albertine (née Nwambo) Jađehe, a construction worker and a clothes shop manager. Her father is Keva and her mother is of Nigerian extraction. Her younger siblings include five brothers, of whom two are twins, and two sisters. When a young child, her dream job was to be a magician's assistant, however this gave way to dreams of a music career after she was noticed by her church's choir director at the age of seven. She eventually took singing lessons, taught herself to play the guitar at age ten, and had developed a minor following as a singer in her hometown by the time she started high school. Jađehe's parents separated in 2001, when she was seventeen, and she graduated from Stenmark High School in 2002 as salutatorian of her class. Career beginnings After graduating high school, Jađehe accepted a full-tuition scholarship to Keller College in The Settlement, and enrolled in the vocal music program there in 2002. While a student there, however, she encountered hostility toward her which she attributed to racial bias amongst the university community. After one year at Keller, she transferred to the College of Music at Het Kajve University in Đor, near her hometown of Ahovohn. There, she was discovered to possess absolute, or "perfect" pitch. During her time at Het Kajve, she performed in musical revue shows and was cast as Eponine in the university's production of Les Miserables, in which a significant portion of the dialogue was performed in Hejvat. The Keva magazine Keđekaves published a review of the production, saying of Jađehe, "this girl is going places." She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in Music in 2006. Rising notoriety National Song Contest appearances Jađehe has twice competed in the New Cambria National Song Contest, on both occasions with songs she composed and penned herself. Her first appearance was in 2008, with the song Lumahan ("Rumour"), performed entirely in Hejvat. The song was described by Spin magazine as "the voice and style of Aretha Franklin meets the language of the North-West." Jađehe won her Semi-Final with 166 points, directly qualifying for the Grand Final Gala. At the final, Lumahan received a total of 168 points, placing second out of the ten entries, the highest result to date for a Hejvat song. In 2009, Jađehe was selected to participate in the contest again, this time with the song Ahet ("Always"). Her performance in the Semi-Final placed third out of ten songs, directly qualifying for the final a second time. Ahet was the only Hejvat language song to have made it through to the final that year, and received 127 points, placing a respectable fifth out of fifteen entries, and outranking more well-known performers such as Jacqueline Clayson. It is worth noting that both of her National Song Contest entries were recipients of the "Best Composition Award" at the Looking Back retrospective special in their respective years. She is, to date, the only person to have won "Best Composition" twice. Personal life Jađehe is involved in numerous charities and organizations working to improve the quality of life amongst New Cambria's Keva communities. She is also fluent in both English and Hejvat. She is an accomplished vocal music teacher, and continues coaching students in her free time. Following her successful participation in the national song contest in 2009, Jađehe stated in an interview that she intends to spend a year away from performing to have a "normal life." On 4 January 2010, Jađehe married Brian Collins, a Tain-based fiction writer and journalist. Category:New Cambria Category:Individuals